chemistry at the University of Rhode Island;
John Harris, a paleontology student from
Bristol, England; and Dr. Bernard Wood,
who specializes in anatomy.
After two and a half days our column
reached the dusty little village of Loiyen
galani, where the road ceased to exist. Here,
in the great Rudolf basin, we were still 100
miles from our primary goal-an uninhabited
spot on the map called Allia Bay, about half
way up Lake Rudolf's eastern shore. For two
more days we inched through dry stream
beds and over sand and rocky landscape. The
trailer carrying our outboard-powered launch
hung up time and again. We welcomed the
added manpower of our police escort.
"Do you think the tents will stand it?" Paul
Abell asked anxiously as we struggled to
stake them down on the rocky shore at Allia
Bay in the face of a keening gale. Wind was
to be our frequent companion here. But
somehow our tents held.
That same day we had found fossils em
bedded in nearby sandstone outcroppings
-remains
of ancient hippos, antelopes,
elephants, and other animals. I soon found
720
myself in the ironic position of having to urge
my colleagues not to spend too much time
collecting specimens.
"We've got to cover as much ground as
possible," I reminded them regretfully.
Our main object in 1968 was to determine
the nature and scope of the sedimentary out
crops. We would merely sample fossils from
different localities in order to draw compari
sons with other African sites.
Mapping Parties Explore by Boat
Our motor vehicles, we knew, would be
sorely handicapped in this terrain. And ex
ploring any great distance on foot was im
possible. We simply couldn't carry enough
water to cope with desert heat that often
exceeded 110° F.
For the first half of the season our motor
boat was the answer. We made frequent trips
up and down the coast and walked as far as
10 miles inland, making sketch maps of
promising deposits and returning to Allia Bay
each evening.
After six weeks we had reached the limits
of our exploration by boat. We would have